Prospect round-up: Kivenmaki 1+1 for Assat; Seider, Veleno make SHL debuts

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects were very busy in Europe today, but almost all of the Wings’ European-playing skaters had quiet Thursdays.

In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki registered a goal and an assist and a +1 in 21:28 played, and Kasper Kotkansalo played 20:46 as Assat Pori lost 3-2 in a shootout to Jukurit;

In the SHL, Albin Grewe had an assist and 5 shots in 10:55 played as Djurgardens IF lost 5-4 to Linkoping;

Moritz Seider had 2 shots on goal and played 16:22 in his debut for Rogle BK, which lost 2-1 to Brynas;

Joe Veleno had 1 shot on goal and finished at -1 in 17:55 played as Malmo lost 5-2 to HV71. Malte Setkov did not play for Malmo due to an injury;

Lucas Raymond had 2 shots and finished even in 15:23 played as the Frolunda Indians won 3-2 over the Vaxjo Lakers;

Matias Brome had an assist and 2 shots, finishing at +1 and winning 50% of his faceoffs in 24:31 played as Orebro lost 2-1 in a shootout to Lulea;

Jonatan Berggren took 1 shot and played 16:46 in Skelleftea AIK’s 1-0 win over Farjestads BK. Albert Johansson had 2 shots in 17:40 played for Farjestad.

Berggren scored a beautiful goal, but it was waved off:

Update: The Malmo Redhawks posted a 2-minute video of Joe Veleno’s post-game remarks (not embeddable), as well as a teaser Tweet:

TV: @jveleno91 efter sin debut i Redhawkströjan
? “Vi fick inte det resultatet vi ville ha, men under stora stunder spelade vi väldigt bra i fem mot fem”

? https://t.co/ynli6wc7eT#HjärtaKvalitetStolthet #HV71MIF pic.twitter.com/Ji89NdRw8n— Malmö Redhawks (@Malmo_Redhawks) October 15, 2020

Red Wings post Kyle Aucoin’s Zoom call

The Red Wings must be holding interviews with the later-drafted prospects today. The latest Zoom call comes from defenseman Kyle Aucoin:

Video: Kyle Aucoin, who as a kid used to play against fellow 2020 Red Wings draft pick Kienan Draper: “He texted me after and was, ‘we’re finally on the same side.’ So that’s cool.” https://t.co/iQbNK6Tai3— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) October 15, 2020

Kulfan talks ‘winners,’ ‘average’ and ‘ugly’ free agency teams

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan graded each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams based upon their work during free agency thus far, with Kulfan deeming the Red Wings to be a “winner” so far:

Detroit Red Wings: Look, the Red Wings aren’t going to make the playoffs, win the Stanley Cup, but they will be more competitive. After last season’s debacle, that’ll be a step forward. In trading for defenseman Marc Staal, and signing goalie Thomas Greiss, forwards Bobby Ryan and Vladislav Namestnikov, and defensemen Troy Stecher and Jon Merrill (Grand Blanc/Michigan), GM Steve Yzerman made no long-term, big-money commitments but added leadership and improved the roster.

Continued

Red Wings’ website examines Filip Zadina’s 2019-2020 ‘numbers’

DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy examines Filip Zadina’s 2019-2020 season stats this morning, noting that Zadina’s sophomore NHL season went quite well:

28 – The amount of games Zadina skated with the Red Wings during the 2019-20 season. He was called up after Anthony Mantha was injured in late November, and played in the ensuing 28 contests from Nov. 24 through Jan. 31, when he suffered an ankle injury at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers. Zadina’s 28 games played easily trumped his nine games of ice time in his rookie season.

8 – Zadina “filled the net” eight times in 2019-20, scoring for the first time on Dec. 12 vs. Winnipeg. He went on to tally three goals in the month of December and five in January, including two goals on Jan. 22 at Minnesota in what turned out to be his second-to-last game of the season.

7 – The amount of assists Zadina collected during his second season donning the Winged Wheel. He tallied his first point of the season with an assist on Nov. 30 against the Washington Capitals, kickstarting a spree of at least one helper in four of the next five games. Zadina’s last assist of the season came on Jan. 20 at Colorado.

Continued

USA Today deems the Wings a free agency ‘winner’

USA Today’s Jimmy Hascup and Mike Brehm issue free agency “Winners and Losers” this morning, and the Red Wings make the gents’ list in the “winning” category:

Detroit Red Wings: GM Steve Yzerman is sticking to the rebuild. He signed forward Bobby Ryan and defenseman Jon Merrill to one-year deals, and traded for defenseman Marc Staal, who has a year left on his deal. They can be dealt later for younger assets. Goalie Thomas Greiss is an upgrade in net, and defenseman Troy Stecher signed for two years.

Continued

‘On This Day in History’ = an excuse to post a Nicklas Lidstrom milestone

I don’t mind posting these kinds of entries at all:

On this date in 2009, #RedWings Nick Lidstrom became the first European-born defenseman to reach 1,000 points— Jen (@NHLhistorygirl) October 15, 2020

On this day in 2009, with two assists in @DetroitRedWings‘ game against the Kings, @NicklasLidstrom became the first European-born defenceman to score 1,000 career NHL points #Hockey365 #LGRW pic.twitter.com/QEwHJ7U9Lz— Mike Commito (@mikecommito) October 15, 2020